Post by pavel on Apr 6, 2016 2:27:49 GMT -6
Arizona and California are arguing over Colorado River water again — this time over whether it should be inscribed in law that California can’t take Arizona’s share of river water that’s left in Lake Mead to prop up lake levels.
The dispute is over whether it would benefit the troubled river system to guarantee in writing that one state can’t take another state’s water that’s left behind in the lake — or whether such an effort could disrupt already delicate negotiations over the river’s future.
Arizona water officials and U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake are interested in seeing such language go into a Western drought bill that’s being negotiated in the U.S. Senate under the direction of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.
“My No. 1 priority is that if we have a voluntary agreement to leave water behind the dam, that the water stays with the user who put it there,” Flake told a meeting of Arizona and Tucson-area water officials last week.
Read more: tucson.com/news/science/environment/arizona-wants-legal-assurances-california-won-t-take-its-stored/article_99af7fc6-611a-57e1-bdf3-1db3559da665.html
The dispute is over whether it would benefit the troubled river system to guarantee in writing that one state can’t take another state’s water that’s left behind in the lake — or whether such an effort could disrupt already delicate negotiations over the river’s future.
Arizona water officials and U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake are interested in seeing such language go into a Western drought bill that’s being negotiated in the U.S. Senate under the direction of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.
“My No. 1 priority is that if we have a voluntary agreement to leave water behind the dam, that the water stays with the user who put it there,” Flake told a meeting of Arizona and Tucson-area water officials last week.
Read more: tucson.com/news/science/environment/arizona-wants-legal-assurances-california-won-t-take-its-stored/article_99af7fc6-611a-57e1-bdf3-1db3559da665.html